HDD not being recognised in PC

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LuxAeterna

Commendable
Oct 5, 2016
23
0
1,510
Hi,

I recently got some Cablemod power Cables to suit the colour scheme of my case. So i unplugged everything and reconnecting with the new cables.

Everything works fine bar my Western Digital 6T HDD. It worked completely fine prior to me changing over the cables.

So first thing i did was try out my SSD using the same SATA and power cables and in the same slot on my motherboard and that works fine. So that rules out damage to the Port/SATA/Power cables.

So it would have to be the HDD issue. I pull a 3TB that I use on my other PC same type HDD and connect it to see if she would get recognised but still nothing. I reconnect it back to my other PC and now It ALSO doesnt get recognised.

So Im after someone who can help me figure out what is happening when i purely disconnect the power and SATA cable and then reconnect it to make it stop showing up in my PC.

And yes I have gone to PC>Manage>Disk Management. to check if i needed to format it again but its just not showing up anywhere anymore. SSD is no worries and shows up even though i removed that at the same time i removed my HDD from my PC.

I havent dropped or damaged in anyway possible either of the 3TB/6TB HDD
 
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
This seems pretty unfortunate, @LuxAeterna! :(
@SkyNetRising is a true expert in the community, so I doubt that he is wrong about this suspicion, especially if multiple computers and different connections cannot get the mechanical drives powered up. I'm sorry if you will need to go through the struggle of retrieving your data the hard way.

A normal desktop 3.5" HDD requires 12 & 5 volts and consumes approximately 5-11 watts of power.
However, if you fed the 5 volt circuit with 12 volts of power, then I'm afraid that @SkyNetRising is totally right. :(

It would be really helpful if you share the exact models of your 3 TB & 6 TB HDDs.
However, I did extract some data from these specs sheets:
  • For a WD Blue 3 TB | 6 TB...
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Max1s

Max1s

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So you have used the old cables on a different PC and it still doesn't show up? It seems too much of a coincidence that the hard drive would fail at the same time as you are changing all the cables...
 
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L

LuxAeterna

Commendable
Oct 5, 2016
23
0
1,510


Yes, ive even switched back to the old power cables so everything is the way it was at the beginning and still doesnt show up.
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
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Hey there, @LuxAeterna!

I'm so sorry to hear about your detection issues with both WD drives. :( What are the Windows OS version you run on both PCs? I'd advise you try to resolve the issue by resetting BIOS on your system. It would also be a good idea to check if the HDDs pop up in BIOS or Device Manager as recognized SATA devices/Disk Drives.
Do the same thing on both computers and see if either one of the HDDs would pop up anywhere. Another thing you could try is updating the SATA controller & Chipset drivers straight from the motherboard manufacturer's official website. While on it, also make sure you have the latest BIOS versions installed.
If you can get your hands on an external enclosure (with an AC adapter) or a docking station, try connecting both drives externally and see if that way they would get detected by the PCs.

Let us know how the troubleshooting is going!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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L

LuxAeterna

Commendable
Oct 5, 2016
23
0
1,510


Im running Windows 10 on both, also I just checking both PC's device managers and its only showing the SSD's in each PC. Im even looking in the BIOS on my other PC and the HDD isnt showing up in the SATA Configuration whereas the SSD and DVD drive are showing up.

The thing that has me stumped is I was using it up until last night no problem.

I just reset the CMOS and reset my systems to optimized factory settings to no avail. I dont have a docking station for harddrives but theres definitely something going on because having the harddrives work then unplugging and replugging for them to just stop showing up there must be something happening.

My newer of the 2 PC's which i just put together about a week ago has an updated BIOS so that cant be the issue either.
 
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LuxAeterna

Commendable
Oct 5, 2016
23
0
1,510


No, I have the HDD plugged in atm, both power and sata and they are motionless, cant hear or feel anything
 
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LuxAeterna

Commendable
Oct 5, 2016
23
0
1,510


A have tried the old and new power cables. I don't see how they would have stopped working from swapping cables over. And to confirm that my SSD does work on the same cable so it wouldn't be dodgy cable.

But on this issue of not having the harddrive not spinning up. Is there a way to test the harddrive or check that power does run through it cos obviously connecting it to my computer isn't doing the trick
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
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Hello again, @LuxAeterna!

I'm sorry for the late reply. This looks quite unpleasant, if both WD drives fail to get powered up in any of the system. Did you manage to try plugging them externally via a docking station/external enclosure? It is extremely odd that they would both disappear from the system, so suddenly.

If the external connection doesn't get them powered up, then I'd strongly recommend you check the warranty of both drives on our website. If they are still covered, you should be able to send an RMA request to our Customer Support and get a replacement.

Do you have any important data that is not backed up and stored on either the 3 or 6 TB HDD? If you don, you should probably consider contacting a professional data recovery partner. They would be your best bet on getting the files back, if the HDDs are not even spinning up.

Keep us posted with the troubleshooting, though!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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LuxAeterna

Commendable
Oct 5, 2016
23
0
1,510


Hi SuperSoph_WD

I have no managed to plug them in externally to a dock no.

The 3TB one ive had for 3 odd years but the 6TB one is about a year old or so. I did have alot of movies and music ect saved onto the 6TB HDD so yer if i lost the data could be pretty annoying indeed.

Ive been talking on a different thread and a guy "SkyNetRising" posted saying that the CableMods power cable that i connected to the HDD's might be wired wrong and is 12V rather than 3/5V so it could have fried both harddrives hence me not feeling any motion within either of the drives :(

If this is the case Ill be contacting CableMods company and asking what output do the cables supposed to give.

On that note Soph, from your knowledge what Volts do Western Digital HDD take/should take? could confirm
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
This seems pretty unfortunate, @LuxAeterna! :(
@SkyNetRising is a true expert in the community, so I doubt that he is wrong about this suspicion, especially if multiple computers and different connections cannot get the mechanical drives powered up. I'm sorry if you will need to go through the struggle of retrieving your data the hard way.

A normal desktop 3.5" HDD requires 12 & 5 volts and consumes approximately 5-11 watts of power.
However, if you fed the 5 volt circuit with 12 volts of power, then I'm afraid that @SkyNetRising is totally right. :(

It would be really helpful if you share the exact models of your 3 TB & 6 TB HDDs.
However, I did extract some data from these specs sheets:
  • For a WD Blue 3 TB | 6 TB
    Read/Write: 4.1 Watts | 5.3 Watts
    Idle: 3.0 Watts | 3.4 Watts
    Standby/Sleep: 0.4 W | 0.4 Watts
    For a WD Black 3 TB | 6 TB
    Read/Write: 9.5 Watts | 10.6 Watts
    Idle: 8.1 Watts | 7.6 Watts
    Standby/Sleep: 1.3 W | 1.6 Watts
You can read more about each of the models here:
WD Black Specs Sheet
WD Blue Specs Sheet

If your HDDs are different WD models, you should be able to find the specific specs sheet on the official internal HDD product page.

Hope this helps.
SuperSoph_WD
 
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Solution
L

LuxAeterna

Commendable
Oct 5, 2016
23
0
1,510


Yeah it is very annoying, especially when these power cables are made to power the system and all its peripherals. Likely I will just have to purchase a couple new HDD's and use the stock standard power cables instead.

The HDD i was use was the WD60EZRX Green.

With retrieving the lost data is that still possible due to now the drive being "fried"?

Also to figure out the problem with the suspect cable that potentially did the damage, should I contact 'CableMods' and let them know what has happened?

Cheers for all the help
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Hey there again, @LuxAeterna!

I'm sorry that you will have to go through this struggle, though. :(
The HDDs are most probably fried and your best bet on getting any of the files back (if it's possible) would be a professional data recovery company. I'd strongly recommend you check our Worldwide Data Recovery Partners and see if there's one near you that you could get in touch with.
Either way, if you cannot get the drive powered up, there's no way to try any data retrieving attempts by yourself. Moreover, these procedures could potentially do more harm than good.

You could indeed contact the cable manufacturer and ask them for possible solutions or RMAs..

Best of luck! Let me know if you have more questions.
SuperSoph_WD
 
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L

LuxAeterna

Commendable
Oct 5, 2016
23
0
1,510


Thanks SS,

I will take ur advice and see what I can do. Thanks again for the followup on my questions, am thoroughly enjoying being in the Toms Hardware community

cheers
 
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